[meteorite-list] trips to the Moon (Moon bases and meteoriterecovery)

From: Richard Kowalski <damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 04:18:46 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <1309346326.34866.YahooMailNeo_at_web113612.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

----- Original Message -----

> From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
> To: damoclid at yahoo.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Cc:
> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 11:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] trips to the Moon (Moon bases and meteoriterecovery)
>
>
>
> "1999 RQ36 is a carbonaceous Potentially Hazardous Asteroid with a diameter
> of
> about 350 meters in diameter that has a 1 in 1,800 chance of earth imapct in
> 2182. I find that mission much more tantalizing than exploring the Lagrangian
> points to do some street sweeping."
>
> Oh, grief, another thing to defend, I better call a shrink. Good luck with that
> pet project, I'd sign off on it if I could ... But, a near-earth 171 years
> into the future 99.94% probability that the statistics will fade away and be
> forgotten vs. collide with Earth is something I'm willing to be complacent
> about if I were forced into the position to choose one and only one program. But
> the Discovery program thankfully isn't so restricting for those who
> understand how to build a budget to explore the heretofore unexplored.

I guess I see this from a different perspective.

Finding potential impactors decades or centuries out is what I do for a living. We not only want but we desire the longest lead time possible The longer the lead time before impact, the more time we have to study an impactor and come up with the best plan for mitigation. The longer the lead time also allows for the minimum of energy input require to deflect the impactor.

Thank you for so dismissively calling my career and the associated programs of planetary defense a "pet project".

1999 RQ36 was chosen as OSIRIS-Rex's target for a number of reasons. The current impact threat probably had little bearing on the selection. The mission has been selected and we are awaiting the signing of the contracts in the next few weeks. Sorry if being awarded this gigabuck program, the biggest ever at UA, and continuation of a long history of LPL's solar system exploration is the source of a little pride in me.

The thing about Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, like 1999 RQ36, is that they will one day in the distant future almost certainly impact the earth. It may be millions of years from now, but I for one would like to know a bit more about this class of asteroids.


>
> In reading your opinion, I really did get a good chuckle, though. That activity
> of "street sweeping" you fondly refer to is the reason for the
> existence of this list! What you basically have in each of them is a
> gravitational well that meteoroids can fall into. This is pristine meteoric
> material - and I don't mean Antarctic style, I mean reach out and touch a
> meteoroid in the ideal case. Sure in some circles the Near Earth Asteroid impact
> hazard is like having to dot your i's and cross your t's, but if I were
> to go hunting meteoric material anywhere in this Solar System you know my vote.
> Even if material can't stay there for the long haul due to various
> perturbations we might dream up, that really isn't so bad. Even a blink of
> an eye such as one million-years accumulation of perfectly fresh material in
> quantities greater than we find in the happiest hunting grounds on Earth would
> be interesting.

I guess I don't see the point of a mission that has to explore millions of cubic kilometers for some objects that should be there, but of which we have not found a single object.

If I want to bring back the most science for the buck, I'd go to the most interesting known NEO; One that has potential for spawning 5 - 20 meter meteoroids that can drop meteorites on earth, spend about a year studying and surveying it and then finally landing, retrieve samples and the return to earth. To me that's the best way to return pristine meteoritic material to the earth.



>
> I should comment that I did not mean to infer specifically that the points were
> overwhelmingly endowed with Lunar material. I think it would be similar to the
> meteorite type distribution we find on Earth for falls, just pristine and not a
> single meteorwrong to be found.




In my opinion, if you want lunar, go to the moon and bring back as many tons as you can haul.


>
> Designing the collection device is something I could really "dig" as I
> bet could most hunters, tinkerers and geologists. I mean, you visit one asteroid
> and you learn about one asteroid. You work this one out and your quest is to get
> the Rosetta Stones to all of our meteorite classes and likely some enrichment in
> local 'geoselenological' history. The dirt behind the refrigerator!
> I'm proud to be a card-carrying street sweeper! Motion to change the name
> from "street sweeping" to meteorite collecting on steroids (not
> a-steroids).. Actually I'm not sure if these objects are meteoroids or even
> should be called meteorites. They've clearly fallen into a gravitational
> well and they do not have independent orbits .... micro-satellites is a
> tacky-sounding term for me. if for no other reason than to get the IAU all huffy
> about what we can't call them, I say the mission is well worth it! ;-)
>
> Kindest wishes
> Doug

What you describe is exactly why I call this street sweeping. Sure some gems can be in there but mostly you'll get a lot of mixed up junk with no context about where it came from, just like the sand and debris that accumulates on quiet parts of the road.

Now to honor my word to return to semi-lurker status

Cheers

--
Richard Kowalski
Full Moon Photography
IMCA #1081

Received on Wed 29 Jun 2011 07:18:46 AM PDT